Feed system for shaft furnaces



June 16, 1964 D. RENKES ETAL 3,137,399

FEED SYSTEM FOR SHAFT FURNACES Filed June 8, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig. 1

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FEED SYSTEM FOR SHAFT FURNACES Filed June 8, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 mum/0m U/e/e/ Ran/res Georg firm/ mam By five/"r of/omeys Maud L United States Patent 3,137,399 FEED SYSTEM FOR 'SHAFT FURNACES Dieter Reukes, Duisburg-Bissingheim, and Georg Brinkmann, Duisburg-Huckingen, Germany, assignors to Mannesmann Aktiengesellschaft, Mannesmannufer 1b, Dusseldorf, Germany Filed June 8, 1962, Ser. No. 201,039 1 Claims priority, application Germany June 14, 1961 "6 Claims. (Cl. 214---35) This invention relates to a system for feeding solid fuel or other solid charge to a shaft furnace having a central gas outlet, especially to a shaft furnace operating at relatively high pressure, such as a high pressure blast furnace. In particular the invention is concerned with a system for such furnaces having a rotating'distributor plate and an annular, vertically movable, locking member.

Shaft furnaces having central gas outletsand rotatable plates for distributing the fuel or charge are well known. The system by means of which the fuel is fed to such furnaces is normally arranged above the furnace'and generally consists of two hollow cylindrical locking members, the so-called Langen bells, which are mounted one above the other and may be moved up and down. The lower bell forms a lock with the distributor plate and the dome-like upper bell prevents gas from leaving the furnace.

These prior systems have several shortcomings which discourage their application to modern blast furnaces. One disadvantage is that a water seal is usedwith the movable bells to prevent loss of gas, and this water seal is not effective with thehigher gas pressures being used in modern blast furnaces.

In accordance with the invention a system is provided for supplying and distributing fuel or other charge to and within shaft furnaces which is capable of preventing loss of gas even under the conditions of high pressure encountered in' modern blast furnaces.

The system of the invention is adapted for use with a shaft furnace having an upper rim and a central gas offtake pipe. It comprises a cap, joining the rim with the oiftake pipe, a distributing plate rotatably mountedwithin the furnace and having a central aperture, a hollow, cylindrical, vertically movable, locking member, at least the lower part of which is within the upper part of the furnace, said locking member providing conduit means leading from the furnace toward the outlet and defining with said cap and distributing plate an outer charge receiving space, means for vertically moving said locking memer, thereby to provide a passage from said space to the furnace and means for supplying a solid charge to said space.

Preferably the distributor plate is rotatably mounted at the upper rim of the furnace and the driving means for the distributing plate are fixed outside of the rim of the furnace.

There is further preferably provided an inner skirt extending downwardly from the inside of the cap to form, with the locking member, a scalable central passage from the furnace to the ofltake pipe.

A charging device is located on the cap and may be constructed in various ways. Thus, for example, it may comprise a sealed bucket wheel or a double cone seal whose two cones or bells may be raised or lowered'independently.

The invention will be further described WithlI'CfCI'CIlCC to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a preferred construction in which a bucket wheel is used as a feeding device.

FIG. 2 shows an alternate construction in which a 3,137,399 Patented June 16., 1964 invention is shown usedwith a blast furnace 6, only the upper portion of which is shown, for simplicity. A central gas offtake pipe 1 is provided for carrying off gases from the furnace and is connected with the upper rim 3 of the furnace by means of a mp2.

Arranged inside the cap 2 and in the upper part of the furnace 6 is a rotatable distributor plate 5. This plate is tapered downwardly inwardly and has a central opening 5a. It is rotated by a drive 4 which may be powered by any convenient prime mover (not shown) and which is mounted on the outside'of the cap 2. In cap 2 and extending well down into the upper part of the furnace.

' with a flange 8, which is engaged with a yoke,9 attached to a lifting shaft 10.

The cap 2 is provided with a downwardly extending skirt 2a which, as shown, fits inside the locking member 7 and with the member 7 provides a sealed central passage from the furnace 6 to the offtake pipe 1.

The locking member 7 rotates with the distributor plate 5. The lifting shaft10 passes through a sealed opening 11 in thecap 2 and is operated by a mechanism 12 located outside the cap 2. This mechanism 12 may be hydraulic and, as shown, may comprise a pump 12a, a reservoir 12b, a valve 12, a cylinder 12d and a piston 12s, attached to the shaft 10. It will be obvious that other types of mechanism, e.g., electric or pneumaticmay equally well be used.

Below the distributor plate 7 there is a deflector 13 which is also capable of being raised and lowered. To elfect the raising and lowering of the deflector 13 there is provided a rod 14 which leads through a sealed opening 15 to an operating mechanism 16 which, like the mechanism 12, may be hydraulic, comprising a pump- 16a, reservoir 16b, valve 160, cylinder 16c and piston 16c. In the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 charge is continuously supplied to the space 28 via the feeder 18 which, as shown,

has a. bucket wheel type construction and is sealed against the escape of gas.

As desired, the locking member 7 may be raised by mechanism 12 to dump charge from space 29 into. the furnace 6. As shown in the drawing the deflector 13 will cause charge sliding along the upper surface of distributor 5 to vbe diverted toward the outer portion of the furnace. If desired, however, the deflector may be raised to a greater or lesser extent by mechanism 16 to feed charge to a point nearer the center of the furnace.

. In the embodiment of theinvention shown in FIG. 2,

all parts of the apparatus are similar to those shown in FIG. 1 except for the'feed device. Thus the'furnace 6 is fitted with a cap 2' joining it to an otftake pipe 1'. A distributor plate 15', likethat of FIG. 1, is provided. The locking member 7" cooperates with the skirt 2a, again as shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 2, two lifting shafts 10' and 10" are shown yoked to the locking member 7'.'

Likewise two ears 13a and 13b areshown attached to the deflector 13 for receiving deflector lifting shafts (not 7 shown). Howeventhe use of tworather than one lifting shaft is of no functional significance.

For simplicity the operating mechanisms for lifting the '7 locking member 7' and the deflector 13 have not been shown.

of the locking member 7 is provided sized bells or cones l9 and 26 which are arranged one above the other and which by means of levers 21 and Weights or devices 22 (which are indicated schematically and may be pneumatic, hydraulic or electrical), are oper-v ated independently'of one another so that only one cone may be opened at a time.

The charge material may be brought to the feeding hopper 25 by means of a conveyor belt indicated at 28 or by any similar conventional device.

The housing 26 ,of the feeder is divided by means of a flange 27 to facilitate changing of parts or even the entire lock assembly with a minimum loss of time. Because the feeder just describe requires little space and is substantially smaller than conventional feeders, two may be arranged side by side in the cap of the apparatus.

What is claimed is:

l. A system for feeding a solid charge, with minimal loss of gas, to a shaft furnace having an upper rim and a central gas ofi'take pipe, said system comprising a leap joining the upper rim to the otitake pipe, a distribut ing plate rotatably mounted within the furnace and having a central aperture, a hollow, cylindrical, vertically movable locking member, at least the lower part of which is within the upper part of the furnace, said locking member providing conduit means leading from the furnace toward the outlet and defining with said cap and said distributing plate an outer charge receiving space, means t for vertically moving said locking member thereby to provide a passage from said space to the furnace and means for supplying a solid'charge to said space. i

2. The system claimed in claim 1 wherein the distributing member is rotatably mounted at the upper rim of the furnace. V

3. The system claimed in claim 1 and comprising drive means for the distributing plate fixed to the outside of the upper rim of the furnace.

4. The system claimed in claim 1 and comprising a skirt extending downwardly from the inside of the cap to form with the locking member a sealablecentrai passage from the furnace to the outlet.

5. The system claimed in claim 1 wherein the locking j member is supported by vertically movable rods extend- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,516,987 Ravitch Nov. 25, 1924 1,746,904 Pike Feb. 11, 1930 2,326,005 Bradley Aug. 3, 1943 2,486,312 Mohr et a1 Oct. 25, 1949 

1. A SYSTEM FOR FEEDING A SOLID CHARGE, WITH MINIMAL LOSS OF GAS, TO A SHAFT FURNACE HAVING AN UPPER RIM, AND A CENTRAL GAS OFFTAKE PIPE, SAID SYSTEM COMPRISING A CAP JOINING THE UPPER RIM TO THE OFFTAKE PIPE, A DISTRIBUTING PLATE ROTATABLY MOUNTED WITHIN THE FURNACE AND HAVING A CENTRAL APERTURE, A HOLLOW, CYLINDRICAL, VERTICALLY MOVABLE LOCKING MEMBER, AT LEAST THE LOWER PART OF WHICH IS WITHIN THE UPPER PART OF THE FURNACE, SAID LOCKING MEMBER PROVIDING CONDUIT MEANS LEADING FROM THE FURNACE TOWARD THE OUTLET AND DEFINING WITH SAID CAP AND SAID DISTRIBUTING PLATE AN OUTER CHARGE RECEIVING SPACE, MEANS FOR VERTICALLY MOVING SAID LOCKING MEMBER THEREBY TO PROVIDE A PASSAGE FROM SAID SPACE TO THE FURNACE AND MEANS FOR SUPPLYING A SOLID CHARGE TO SAID SPACE. 